Author: Tony O'Connor

Tony O’Connor is the founder and managing director of Butler Caroye, which has provided independent travel procurement and management services in the Asia/Pacific for 22 years. Tony is also the CEO of the airfare markup auditing company Airocheck. Connect with him on LinkedIn.

Op Ed: Tony O’Connor On A Rethink For Buyer Associations

Consultant Tony O’Connor updates his thinking on industry associations with a new twist as he perceives a great realignment in buyer-supplier dynamics. Travel buyer associations are an important part of the business travel landscape. They are the vehicle that can enable disparate buyers to join forces and have a say in the issues and changes…

Op Ed: Tony O’Connor On Why Humanity May Need Travel To Survive

Consultant Tony O’Connor looks back 10,000 years and then to the heavens as he contemplates travel’s role in human civilization. Humanity may need travel to survive. That’s a big claim. Here’s my thinking. Every now and then you come across a set of ideas that make things click better into place. The 2011 book “Sapiens:…

Op Ed: Tony O’Connor On The Likelihood Of Higher Travel Costs

In a battered travel industry, which way will prices go? There are strong arguments for both up and down. Tony O’Connor, managing director of the Butler Caroye consultancy, lays out several of them. Some travel buyers are hoping for deep discounts and big bargains from travel suppliers desperately competing for business when travel demand recovers….

Op Ed: Tony O’Connor On The Window Of Opportunity To Reset Industry Associations

Most in-person events organized by industry membership associations are on hold. Even if conditions improve to allow them to resume, consultant Tony O’Connor doesn’t think they should in the same way. As a leader for the Global Business Travel Association in the Australasia region, he has an inside view. His vision for a new model…

Op Ed: Tony O’Connor On The Window Of Opportunity For A Better Travel Supply Chain

Consultant, auditor and GBTA-Australia & New Zealand director Tony O’Connor discusses how TMCs, online booking tools and travel buyers should work together to make corporate travel economics more sensible. Many corporate travel buyers would say they are not totally happy with the travel supply chain. It is classically conflicted. The rise of NDC and maturation…

Op Ed: Tony O’Connor On Earth-Shifting Moves For Qantas That Could Make The Big Bigger

On Thursday, Qantas will go live with a new distribution strategy that surcharges bookings using channels the Sydney-based carrier disfavors. Like other big airlines, in a stated effort to personalize shopping it’s pushing direct channels and those that use XML connectivity based on the NDC standard. Qantas in February said “a majority” of key agency…

Op Ed: Tony O’Connor On The Perils Of Personalization

Consultant, auditor and GBTA-Australia & New Zealand deputy director Tony O’Connor raises interesting questions for corporate travel buyers as suppliers build a new basis for business travel commerce. The supply side is driving the personalization of online booking tools. I have never heard a travel buyer advocating for it. Perhaps it’s worth asking why suppliers…

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